Death of Ghost, Birth of a Queen
by Eristarisis
Summary: Ghost Special Operative Sarah Kerrigan. Her battle with the Zerg upon the orbital platforms of Tarsonis. Her death at the hands of the Swarm, and her rebirth upon Char.
1. Chapter 1

A/N

Written LONG before Starcraft II even existed so do not start.

Text in Italics is from Starcraft.

You flame and I will report you.

**Prologue: **

**The Determining Link**

The army of evolved killers known better as "the swarm," is composed of numerous different creatures, all cloaked behind the moon of Tarsonis with its numerous warrior strains dormant. However, their living, breathing Overlord transports moved through space to close upon their target. The swarm had been lured from across space by the Psi Emitters upon the surface of the Capital Planet of the Confederacy: Tarsonis.

The many shapes simply sat there for a moment, as they awaited the command of their Master, created eons ago by their now extinct master race known only as the Xel'Naga. Their master and commander: The Overmind controlled the circle of seven Zerg Cerebrates, who in turn controlled a brood of the Zerg. Seven Cerebrates meant seven Broods with each brood composed of twisted but perfectly evolved killing machines.

The living ships housed the numerous forms of twisted evolution, from the small and dog like Zergling, to the dreaded spine shooting scythe armed Hydralisk, to the massive tank-like Ultralisk. The winged defenders of these living ships, the Overlord transports hovered and watched. Mutalisks and their higher evolved Guardians, along with the flying bombs known as Scourges circled in the vacuum of space protecting the space borne swarm.

Every organism within the swarm knew their place and knew their purpose, most capable of only two thoughts. The first: Obey the Overmind. The second was to quench an insatiable lust and appetite for death and destruction when commanded to do so. The control of the Overmind over its minions was undeniable and absolute. There simply was no way for any of the minions of the Overmind, including the Cerebrates to overthrow or even question, the decisions or the will of their Overmind.

They had come to this planet, lured by powerful psionic emanations that they sought to assimilate and evolve to suit their purpose: Perfection. The Zerg had evolved over many thousands of years, always taking the genetic characteristics, the DNA of only those species superior to their own to create deadlier strains of warriors, more effective killers that made creative use of blade, claw, fang, projectile, plague, acid and chemical.

The Overmind sought the missing link, the missing strain of DNA that would allow the Zerg to combine their purity of essence, with the purity of form granted to their elder brothers, the race of aliens known as the Protoss. The pure power of the psionic emanations coming from a Terran world drew the Zerg, determined to extract and combine this DNA in to their own, to use in combat against the psionic gifts of the Protoss.

Within the central chamber of the swarm, numerous psychic organs grew upon the walls, surrounding the Cerebrate Araq, leader of the Jormungand Brood, awaiting final instructions from the Overmind to proceed with its attack, to recover the hopefully biological emitter of these psionic energies, for their absorption in to the swarm.

The Overmind psychic speech resonated in the air around the chamber, but its delivery was not something that normal humans would be able to equate as being actual speech. It was more of an energy or feeling than actual speech, "**YOU GROW CLOSE TO OUR OBJECTIVE ARAQ, GO FORTH AND ASSIMILATE THAT WHICH THE SWARM DESIRES.**"

"By your will Overmind, for the glory of the swarm!" replied Araq. It took him only a moment to awaken every warrior at his command, as the Overlords sped up, closing rapidly upon the numerous orbiting space platforms that would be obliterated before falling through the atmosphere of the planet, to bring death and terror to the Terrans below, "Let the enemies of the Swarm know of our approach! And let them fear our coming!"

The Overmind responded, "**THE ZERG WILL REJOICE THIS DAY, AS WE GAIN THAT WHICH MATTERS MOST, THE DETERMINANT, THAT WHICH WE HAVE SEEKED THAT WILL GRANT US THE POWER TO ASSIMILATE THE PROTOSS!**"

Even as the Overmind spoke to his cerebrate, the swarm of living ships began to move, coming out from behind the shadow of the moon that had hidden them. the light of the system's primary star bathed the tan and orange shapes as an insurmountable horde dropped closer, advancing with caution, upon the Primary Defense Platforms of Tarsonis: New Gettysburg, where they would first establish a beachhead, before descending to the planet's surface to claim the sources of such powerful psionic energies: The missing DNA the Zerg swarm demanded….

"_Like a beacon, the combined power of the psi emitters reached out to the far corners of the Terran sector, luring billions upon billions of Zerg to the capital Tarsonis. The Zerg overrun the best defense the Confederates had to offer and proceeded to lay waste to the industrial centers and major cities of the entire planet." _

Aboard the Battle Cruiser Norad II holding orbit, the Leader of the Sons of Korhol, soon to be crowned Emperor Arcturus Mengsk I, was alerted by the Adjutant AI aboard to an unexpected and very dangerous development: "Emperor Mengsk," it brought a smile Mengsk's face to hear that. "I have detected several dozen Protoss warships entering the upper atmosphere of Tarsonis. They appear to be making a direct course for the Central Zerg Hive Cluster upon the planet surface."

In his haste, Mengsk summoned the wrong member of his of his Inner Circle, Captain James Raynor, before summoning a potential problem and troublemaker, which the arriving Protoss were the solution: Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan. He regretted the fact that it had come to this, but Kerrigan was becoming dangerous, too dangerous for him to have around. Her doubts and her fears about the way that the way he… No. They were manipulating the Zerg against the Confederates were not something that he could tolerate any longer.

Granted, the original battle had been between himself and his faction of so-called "rebels," the Sons of Korhol against the Confederation. Then the Zerg made their first appearance in Korpulu Sector, and the Confederates captured them, using some in experiments with psychically gifted humans, such as Sarah Kerrigan, who escaped Confederate control and allied with him, as his right hand. From the Terran point of view, the Zerg were simply a race of barbaric aliens that sought to cause death and destruction. The second alien race, the Protosss had arrived and done nothing but slaughter everything in their path, be it Terran or Zerg, their motives unfathomable to anyone. Three races and three distinct agendas: Arcturus Mengsk was close to reach the summit of his agenda, to create his empire, and he was not about to let anyone stand in_ his_ way.

He sighed, "God damn it, I never wanted it to come to this, but now, there are no other choices open to me but this one." The decision had been his and he had made it: The destruction of his enemies, at the cost of one his most valuable assets, but he would get the power that he desired and worked an entire life to achieve. Kerrigan was a powerful asset but now expendable, once this final mission was complete. At least he could grant Sarah Kerrigan heroes death – it was the least he could do, "If the Protoss engage the Zerg, the confederates may escape! Commander, dispatch Lieutenant Kerrigan with a strike force. Caption Raynor and General Duke will stay behind with the Command Ship."

James Raynor was not one to suffer fools or insanity lightly, "First you sell out every human on this world, and now you want us to turn against the Protoss? And you're going to send her down there with no backup?"

"I have absolute faith in Lieutenant Kerrigan's to carry out her orders!" he replied before closing the video conference link, satisfied that Kerrigan would carry out her orders. His only worry was whether James Raynor could be trusted to keep his hands out of an affair that did not concern him… it was something that had to be done, "Security, confine Captain Raynor to his quarters until further notice!"

Mengsk was no fool. He knew that when the time came, and he gave the order, he would have one very angry Captain to deal with, and he would have to ensure that it did not get too far out of hand. For the moment, Raynor was not an asset he considered expendable, but he was fast moving down the road towards it. Mengsk worried him slightly that he may soon have no choice but to eliminate another member of his future cabinet, reducing its size to two, and it would remain two, so long as the loyalty of General Edmund Duke remained above question.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: **

**The Beginning of the End**

The sound of a dozen siege tanks firing salvo after salvo of death in to the advancing ranks of Zerg was like the sound of a thousand dragons roaring, venting their anger and hatred at their foes. The Zerg had descended on to this world in search of something, their hunt having culminated in the slaughter of an entire planet, every man, woman and child. They had not found the source of the psionic emanations that had drawn them across space. However, the numerically few and weak emanations from the few remaining Protoss were enough to draw the swarm back to the space platforms. The few dozen remaining Protoss fled Terran butchery by blistering bullet barrages and nuclear like blasts of Yamato Cannon fire. The Zerg followed the gradually vanishing sources of psionic energy until the only one left, was a lone Ghost.

Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan leapt the few remaining feet to the ground, red hair flaring out behind her as she dashed through the open spaces of her base, moving between barracks, armories and supply depots to get directly to her command center where she hoped to call down an immediate evac for her people. What she could not understand was why the Zerg had come here, from the planet's surface in such overwhelming strength. The small base that the Zerg had on these platform was not enough to support the overwhelming volume of them that now came at her forces, like the waters of a raging river, that would be crashing in to her defenses within minutes. What she could not grasp, could not understand is what drew them here, especially now.

Her assault groups had already demolished all of the Protoss without actually engaging the Zerg. All she had to do now was make sure that her lines held until they could get an evac down here to escape these demonic monsters. She had opted for an aerial assault against the Protoss because their Commander had been a little lax in his detector coverage had allowed the pair of Battle Cruisers under her command to lay waste to his Photon Cannon detectors before groups of cloaked Wraiths had punched openings in their defensive lines. Ground force had been composed of four squads of infantry with a siege tank company for support. Already the skies were a myriad of colors, red blood and fires that glowed orange as her aerospace groups were heavily engaged with enemy fliers while trying to evade the masses of kamikaze Scourges.

The simple presence of psionic energy had drawn the Zerg to these platforms, the Cerebrate Araq determined to claim that determinant DNA for the glory of the swarm. The Zerg sought mutable, controllable Terran DNA, from only one Terran out of the hundreds presently mopping up the last of the Protoss. Numerous screens around the Command Center glowed, with the red mass upon the master display screen growing larger and larger as the Zerg pressed forward, the comsat sweeps only showing in greater detail and confirming what every Terran soldier outside ready knew as true: The Zerg were here to kill them all.

Technicians were hunched over their terminals as they barked orders in to microphones, and updated numerous screens and maps as fast as possible as Kerrigan grabbed the closest headset, snapping in on as she waved for the com-tech to open a channel to the Sons of Korhol ships in orbit overhead. The lights from the console painting her face a mix of red and green, the red slowly devouring the green as outlying Observation Posts were overrun by the Zerg, "This is Kerrigan, we've taken care of the Protoss but we've got a wave of Zerg advancing on our position! We need immediate evac!"

The silence that filled the channel for a moment unsettled her, making her nervous as she tightened her grip upon her C-10A Canister Rifle, standard issue to all Terran Ghost Special Operatives, cocking it once as she glanced at the ammo readout along its side. She had a full clip loaded even as she tried the com again, "Uh, boys… about that evac?" her voice was calm but the slight tinge of worry.

The roar of artillery was muted inside the command center but it was still loud enough to reinforce her point, that they needed evac, but her request was turning in to a desperate plea, a very slight tinge of fear in her voice, "Jim? Commander? What the hell is going on? We need evac now!" There was no response to Sarah Kerrigan's from the Commander, Jim Raynor, or even Arcturus, and it became clear to her at that moment, exactly what had happened to her: Abandoned along with four hundred plus troopers, not counting the technicians, scientists, pilots and war machines.

Arcturus was leaving her to die with her troops... she cursed quietly, as the enormity of what had just transpired sunk in: Abandoned in the face of an overwhelming enemy they could not defeat. Already her forces were battle weary, damaged and wounded from their long siege of the protoss bases – both of them in the space of eleven hours. It almost mocked her that she could do nothing to stem this tide of death now knocking upon her entire defensive perimeter.

The swarm was attacking with its full unbridled fury to repeat their carnage upon the surface of Tarsonis, here, amongst her troops, her friends, and those who had followed her down here… had been left behind to die. She turned to see the other members of the command center staff, and began issuing orders to them all, "General Quarters! All personal report to the West and North East perimeter! We are going to have to hold against these bastards as long as we can! Evac…" she hesitated biting her tongue before grinding out the words, to tell them the truth, "There is no evac coming for us… we've been abandoned."

She pulled her sidearm from its holster, double-checking the clip before returning it to its resting place, in her heart and in her head; she knew that she would draw it and use it within the coming hour. Her last comment stunned them, as they looked at her questioningly. She looked in to their hearts, in to their minds and she could read it as if it was stamped in to their foreheads: Fear, "Recall all ground attack teams, rearm then and move them to create a fourth defensive line outside this Command Center." The crew, stunned for a moment did not move, until she screamed a single word, "MOVE!"

Suddenly, every person in their leapt to their consoles, to their stations issuing her orders quickly and efficiently, as they had trained to do under any kind of battlefield situation, including when the possibility of being overrun by the enemy was almost certain.

Sarah Kerrigan took a deep breathe, "Keep me posted on all developments, I'll be at the front!" she exited from the Command Center at a dead run, moving across the base rapidly, entering an armory to discard her Lockdown rounds – completely useless against the Zerg to grab several more braces of ammo for her Canister Rifle. With her ghost powers, she moved with the speed and grace unmatched by any human, as she seemingly warped to the front lines of the engagement.

The ranks of the Zerg were not visible in detail just yet, only a massive orange and brown mass that advanced closer and closer with every passing moment as artillery salvos lit up their ranks and lines, blowing them apart, scattering them in many directions. Only to have them reform, fill the holes in their lines with more of their numerous warrior strains and continue their charge in to the teeth of the Terran guns. There was no doubt that the Siege Tanks were doing their utmost to kill the horde of teeth and claws advancing upon them, but as in every engagement involving the Zerg, there were simply more Zerg than there were anything else. The only advantage for the moment was that they were attacking through bottle necks and choke points, where they could stem their advance – momentarily at least.

The problem was that the first of three defensive lines of Bunkers, Siege tanks and Turrets were already coming under heavy assault. Soon enough, the fight would come to the second line, bringing death and devastation along with it to the men and women, all waiting within the armored bunkers for their turn, to dice with death, and most of them to loose without even getting a fair chance to roll their dice.

Within one of the numerous bunkers upon the firing line, Lieutenant Cameron St James turned away from the one of the numerous firing slits to survey the interior of the bunker. What little light there was came from outside the bunker but it was still adequate lighting for those within to see outside, to take aim and shoot at whatever came towards them. To their back was a solid armor door, several feet thick, that would do little but announce death was at their door when the Hydralisks or enough Zerglings came knocking.

The bunkers would easily withstand any small arms fire… artillery being the true threat to almost any bunkered position. The Zerg do not have much in the way of artillery, apart from their thrice-damned Guardian flyers and they were relatively lucky yet, there were no Guardians in sight. When you are in a bunker against the Zerg, there is only one rule: Shoot and do not stop until you have to reload, and once you have reloaded, continue shooting until you gun overheats. Then grab another gun and keep shooting.

The needle spines of Hydralisk could penetrate the thick neosteel walls of the bunker in several volleys, making the interior arguably more dangerous that the outside. Every single marine present knew exactly what those spines, coated with acid and toxins that killed with merciful rapidity compared to the other ways that the Zerg could kill. Simply put, a bunker increased the survival lifetime of a Marine by about seventy-five percent but when the battlefield life of a marine is a little over twenty-five minutes that additional percentage was almost worthless.

Packed into the cramped strongpoint was the rest of Cameron's five-person squad. He knew three of them well enough, but the most recent addition, a Private and her name was Jo – at least he could tell that much from her IFF transponder, with short brown hair and a cute, pixie like face, deep blue eyes that seemed to radiate an impossible amount of mischief when not killing for a living. As for other physical features, the all-encompassing battle armor made it impossible to say anything more. Jo was toting an older grease pig rifle of some form and covering the area to the right of the bunker in the direction of the next bunker a scant fifteen feet away – more or less.

Cameron turned and picked up his Gauss Rifle, a marvel of engineering, with a high muzzle speed, no muzzle flash, and low recoil. The rest of his squad was similarly equipped with the exception of Jo simply because of the large tanks she wore on her back that marked her clearly as a close quarters power armored assault trooper, with the fires of hell at her disposal, known more colloquially as a Firebat.

A sudden call came through his radio, on the command frequency, announcing that the first bunker line was being abandoned, clearly visible as Marines and Firebats came rushing towards them, several Vulture hover bikes serving as ad hoc APC's, with numerous troopers clinging to any and all possible hand holds. Behind the fleeing lines of men, and speedy machine came the last of the surviving siege tanks. From the exterior of this second bunker line, the roar of Mjolnir cannons announced the skyward launching of plasma based doom to provide some measure of cover for the retreating troops. The Zerg would pause a moment, to send in their own mobile artillery, most likely in the form of Guardians to knock out whatever static air defense they could. Sure enough, the hellfire missile turrets had been effective at intercepting Zerg airborne units, most especially the Mutalisk with its acidic glave wurm, and were fast becoming easy targets for the Zerg, like all things bolted to the ground.

It was a case of "do or die" as Goliaths stepped up to strike down the slow moving crab like Guardians from the sky. Why exactly the Confederacy had adopted to use the Goliaths was difficult to understand. True its ordnance payload earned it great respect: Multipurpose hellfire missiles for anti aircraft work, while the chain gun slung between its legs allowed it to decapitate infantry with frightening ease. However, a biped design meant that its legs are ultimate weak point, not to mention any mechanics worst nightmare. The paper-thin armor over its missile bays allowed marines with rocket launchers to bring one down. Not to mention that it also had limited firing arcs that reduced its effectiveness in combat. Overall, it is believed that only the bravest, dumbest or bravest and dumbest men and women climbed in to the cockpit of a Goliath.

Everyone could tell that the battle was drawing closer, as the artillery became slightly less frequent as the siege tanks compensated for the diminishing distance between the second line of bunkers, tanks and turrets and the advancing mass of Zerg. The continuous flashes of lighting and thunder of explosions visible in the distance made it clear that the last of the turrets and bunkers were crushed under the press of the Zerg… and nobody was limping back on foot or with a vehicle.

Moreover, Kerrigan's shouted on the command channel, "Second line: Lock and load!"

Lieutenant Cameron, as he switched to his squad frequency, tapped his foot on the sitting figure beside him. "Orders in: Lock and load people!" Cameron announced. The enemy continued their unending advance, thousands of feet shaking the platform beneath them, proving a better galvanizer to Cameron's words.

The dust churned up and smoke hung low over the battlefront, clogging the air and limiting visibility. The noise however, was the orchestra of warfare as missiles streaked overhead from friendly launchers to smite Mutalisks from the sky as they screamed before falling to the ground. The air war was in full swing perhaps twenty or thirty feet above them as Wraiths mixed it up with the smaller and equally agile Mutalisks. The Battle Cruisers sought to lay down orbital bombardments, not really succeeding as they maneuvered constantly to stay ahead of the dozens of Scourges that attempted to suicide themselves against the metal hulls.

On the ground, the Marines adjust their helms to avoid being deafened by the roar of friendly artillery before they stepped to the firing slits and pointed their weapons outwards, waiting for the signal to begin to sniping at the rushing Zerg. They would stare with a wave of a few hundred Zerglings, as they always did, before the Hydralisks would follow with the gigantic tank like Ultralisks close behind, "Rockets up!" ordered Cameron, checking to make sure that the portable one man hellfire missile launchers were ready. Their firepower would be needed in the coming minutes, as he scanned the shrouded horizon for the horde of death.

The Spider Mines dropped minutes ago by the retreating Vultures beat him to it, popping out of the ground, running towards the Zerg before detonating creating small clouds of smoke and Zergling limbs. The detonation of the first Spider mine was enough as the bunker protected infantry opened up with their C-14 "Impaler" Gauss Rifles with upgraded U238 Shells, giving them a little more range that they used in single shot mode to snipe. The sniping lasted less than a minute.

The Zerg had no advance tactics or strategy simply using superior numbers, the Zerg that fell seemingly replaced instantly by another. Firing in semi-automatic mode would have been too inaccurate until a voice announced, "Hydralisks moving up!" when a single tortured roar shattered the sounds of warfare for several long seconds, before the same voice screamed, "Ultralisk!"

Ultralisks, the largest of the Zerg's ground forces. Massive dealers of death, as they rampaged across any field, using their tonnage to crush foes beneath their mass, or to use their bladed tusks like swords to cut marines in half or to cut through buildings like a knife through soft cheese – if cheese could bleed. The inherent toughness of at Ultralisk makes the marine's job of gunning one down with a Gauss Rifle almost impossible – that is what the portable hellfire launchers were for.

Cameron hefted one as his HUD chirped informing that another bunker had locked on to the massive Ultralisk and was requesting additional support. He blinked his left eye acknowledge the request as he set his sights upon the lumbering behemoth. Cameron held his lock on the target for several seconds, allowed the computer to compute the firing solution. When the launcher gave off a continuous long beep, he made the traditional call, echoed seconds later by two other bunkers, "Good tone: Firing!" His finger tightened on the trigger sending the missile screaming from its launcher.

Two missiles from other bunkers followed their own flight paths, guided to their targets by the laser mounted on the launcher. It took three seconds for the missiles to meet their target as their armor piercing tips ripped through the chitin armor plating that covered the beast before detonating inside the creature, causing its blood and internal organs to spray out in a bloody parody of a fountain. A loud cheer went up as the Ultralisk fell even as Cameron followed tradition, "That's a kill!" Cameron dropped the spent launcher his still smoking rifle came up to add its own contribution to the barrage of supersonic shells cutting in to the ranks of the Zerg.

Overhead, the battle for air supremacy had developed something like a seesaw quality to it. The limited Terran aerospace forces would gang up, the Wraiths combining their firepower to knock out small number of the massed Mutalisk before breaking formation to evade the returning rush of Scourges that the battle cruisers could decimate, before the Wraiths swarmed in to prevent the Mutalisk from picking apart the 'cruisers. The seesaw nature of the battle would not last much longer as it was again the case of superior numbers winning out against all odds. Already, most of the Wraiths were nothing more than smoldering broken frames that had plunged from the sky and the Zerg had finally struck the decisive blow as over two dozen Scourge converged upon a single battle cruiser, the little bat shaped creatures too numerous for the 'cruisers massive laser batteries to destroy.

Their detonation against the engines housing caused two of the four engines to fail, followed moment later by explosions internally the cracked the hull, killing the engines and crippling the Battle Cruiser "Dauntless." It listed starboard. Its hammerhead like prow shearing through the neck of a sister ship as explosions rippled up and down the hull of the both crafts, moments before the reactors went critical, flinging burning white hot chunks out in to space and on to the battle below.

Space debris is a threat to any space going vessel as even a chunk of metal the size of a golf ball, without anything to act as a brake - namely gravity - is a golf ball sized missile, capable of punching through a foot of armor. The debris proved to be a greater threat to the Terran navy as an entire squadron of Wraiths were annihilated in the blast as the few remaining ships took heaving damage across all sector.

Back on the ground, the Zerg were getting far too close for comfort now, as more than once, a marine had ducked away from the firing slit, when they felt, or though that they felt the impact of a Hydralisk needle spine, just in case there were more than just one coming through the firing slit. CMC 300 Marine Combat Armor can absorb a fair amount of punishment, the Zerg being what they are excel at killing armored targets.

Overhead the engines of Wraith screamed as a brave and somewhat insane pilot risked a ground attack run, cutting loose with lasers and missiles to pulverize a mass of Zerglings and Hydralisks before jinking left and corkscrewing right to reengage in the battle for aerial supremacy.

A blinding nova filled the sky for several long seconds, and the voice from the command center screeched in to Kerrigan's ear, "The Dauntless and Battle Bane are down! Repeat: The Dauntless and Battle Bane are down!" Kerrigan cursed at that, her own hands getting sore from firing the C10-A Canister Rifle, pumping round after round in to the advancing Zerg. Everyone was killing them, but not killing enough of them. As Napoleon said many centuries ago, "Quantity has a quality all its own," an adage the Zerg would have truly understood.

She could actually make out their shapes in the distance thanks to her ocular implants, almost a hundred meters away, through the smoke, the large shapes of at least six, maybe as many as a dozen deadly Ultralisks closing. Artillery barrages still creating pockets full of blood free of Zerg, but it simply was not enough as the pockets just refilled, as if the Zerg were demons rising from the blood of their fallen ilk. The Hydralisks were already in range and spitting their needle spines, and soon it would be Ultralisks instead of Zerglings at the ten-meter mark. The Zerglings, however, they could hold off for a while yet… but those Ultralisks would get through the Napalm walls of the Firebats to start cutting through the bunkers to get at the marines inside.

So little distance remained between a massive battle and a bloody slaughter, and that slaughter is inevitable for the Terrans, but for the moment at least, they had one final trick up their sleeve. The gravely voice of Firebat filled the channel, "Wanna turn up the heat?"

The close quarters armored assault troopers wearing their bulky packs discarded their weapons, whether Gauss Rifles or older grease pig gun, as they brought their primary armament in to play: Arm mounted Perdition Flamethrowers. They waited for the Zerg to cross the critical barrier and sure enough they did, literally thousands upon thousands of the small dog like Zerglings leading the charge as thousands of slugs chewed in to the length and breadth of their ranks. However, for the Terran's at least, they had a moment respite. From the front firing slits, of the every bunker along the line, waves of angry red immolating death streamed forth, the Zerg encountering the wrath of an angry god as many fell to the flames that the technicians and scientists behind the Perdition weapon claimed burned hotter and faster than even hell's own fires. They may well have been right as the smell of burnt flesh and boiled blood filled the air, the small corpses littered the ground in front of the bunkers, even as marines continued the unending barrage.

To the untrained eye, it looked as if the Terrans were actually winning the engagement, keeping the front of the bunker line clear of all Zerg that tried to advance upon them, but to the marines in the bunker they knew all they had reached was a stalemate that was temporary at best. The Zerg would simply bring in more fresh troops, and those fresh troops did not have ammunition problems to contend with, but at least for now, they could hold the massive swarm at bay, but the swarm had already breeched one bunker line…

Moreover, it seemed as if God himself was on their side, as sudden roars from the third line of bunkers erupted, and the shells crashed down, gouging in to the platform to create something akin to an uphill run for the Zerg, making it easier to butcher them. It was a risky business for the third line of tanks to be firing, as the risk of concussive splash damage actually killing somebody or worse, breaching a bunker was a very real threat. However, for the moment, they could hold.

They had been able to hold this position but to the west their outpost was about to buy the farm. The voice on the comms was calm and controlled, accepting of fate: "This is Echo Outpost, we're heavily engaged and about to be overrun by a combined force of Ultralisks and Guardians… but these fuckers get no further than this! We're taking these sonsofbitches with us!"

In that instant, the transmission ended, as the Adjutant calmly announced the intentions of the man in charget: "Nuclear Launch Detected." Seconds later, Kerrigan ducked and closed her eyes, as did everyone else out in the open. In the distance, the mushroom cloud rose as the wave of annihilating nuclear energy streamed out. It had worked so well against the Protoss and now proved its effectiveness against the Zerg. It vaporized everything. Every spore, every stray tendril, every Zerg that it touched, It would slow the Zerg advance for several minutes as they regrouped before trying to push through again, but now, their entire flank was laid open, with almost no defenses, and no time to do anything about it.

Kerrigan knew at this point, they were in trouble, and that she would have to do everything she could to ensure that some of her people escaped. She retreated from the battlefront as she dashed back to her Command Center, giving orders even as she moved to its relative safety. Sarah Kerrigan knew that it was the beginning of the end. "This is Kerrigan to all units! Kerrigan to all units: Prep every Barracks, War Factory and Science Facility for immediate dust off! All non-essential personal are to take a weapon and form of as per emergency defense protocol Lucifer-Seven. Repeat: Lucifer-Seven!"

Since the first artillery barrage against the Zerg and the fall of the first defensive line, until this point, with her aerospace forces in tatters and the second line beginning to crack under the strain with her flank exposed, only seven or eight minutes had passed. She knew that the second line would fold the moment the Ultralisks threw themselves at it. Already more and more missiles were filling the air as bunkered infantry sought to do with precision targeting what the Siege Tanks could not. Lucifer Seven…. their defense would turn in to a retreat and moments after that, it would turn in to full scale rout before the Zerg, who would turn the rout in to wholesale slaughter.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2: **

**The Death of Sarah Kerrigan **

At the very forefront of the battle, Cameron and his squad were still doing what they did best, killing for a living and only stopping to reload when they clips ran dry, even as they continued to pour fire in the ranks of the swarm, pumping the forward bounding Zerglings and snake like Hydralisks full of hypersonic rounds. Firebats unleashed the flames of hell upon them, keeping them at bay, but the infantry were spending more time in cover avoiding return barrages of Hydralisk needles spines that now made their way through the firing slits of the bunker with a near astounding regularity.

Cameron's entire squad had exhausted their supply of hellfire missiles in bringing down Ultralisks. His squad had accounted for five kills and at least another four partials but their missile stocks were empty as the largest of the Zerg ground organisms closed in. The roar of the siege guns were not doing much more than thinning out the ranks of smaller monsters, allowing the Ultralisks, perfectly evolved for melee butchery to use their massive Kaiser Blades to rip through the armor of a bunker with one crosswise scissor swipe.

The bunker to the left of Cameron's detonated in a small fireball, testament to the fact that they had breached the bunker and somehow, caused the Vespane Gas filled backpack of the Firebat in there to explode like an overripe tomato. The fighting had an intensity one normally found in a hand to hand melee. Going hand to hand against the Zerg was a guaranteed death the way putting the barrel of a Gauss Rifle under your chin and pulling the trigger is. Many of those left were suffering from twitchy fingers, considering pressing the button that would juice them up.

The button was linked to the stim-pack built in to all marine armor that was loaded with artificial adrenalin as part of a mixed cocktail of drugs and chemicals to speed up their reactions and movement. Cameron was no fan of the stim-packs simply because of blinding headaches, aches and overwhelming fatigue that one suffered once they wore off…. Not to mention that using more than three of them in the space of 48 hours was as sure as engaging the Zerg in a hand to hand melee. But Cameron knew he had no choice left as he slapped the switch, "If you got a stim pack, use it!" he ordered.

It was the telltale moment for those in the second line to flee as a voice filled the channel, "Fallback! Fallback to the third line! Double time it peo…" however he never had the chance to complete his sentence as he saw something massive through the front firing slits of his own bunker, wherever he was along the line, his comm forgotten, "Shit." He could do nothing more than stare death as it came straight at him, the tree trunk like legs stopping mere inches away from the wall of the bunker, blocking the firing slits before its tusks ripped through the roof of the bunker, the Ultralisk employing its inbred power to annihilate the marine's neo-steel protection. It stood for several long heart wrenching seconds, as it swayed like a tree before toppling back to the ground, its forelegs smashing in to the bunker, knocking the now battered construction in to the ground beneath its feet as it gave a war cry of its own, and began a deadly charge towards the third and final line of their defense; the marines and Firebat within the bunker having been trampled to death.

The cry echoed across the entire battlefield, sending terror in to the heart of every man and woman on the line as a full dozen Ultralisks moved to the front of the swarm to lead the charge as the smaller Zerg moved aside allowing them to overtake. And they were moving too quickly to be effectively targeted by artillery. The tanks upon the second line switched out of siege mode, unlocking the grapples that braced the tank when it fired its massive gun, to bring their now, weaker but more effective battle cannons in to play against the monsters pounding against the bunkers, claws and scythes scraping at the outer wall, and it would only be a matter of time before the second and finally the third and final line of bunkers fell, and eventually a large enough gap would appear in their defensive lines, allowing the Zerg to encircle and slaughter those occupying any bunker, a mix of four marines and one Firebat. But the Terrans were now stim-packed, and were fighting as if possessed by demons with every man and woman upon the line taking at least five of the Zerg abominations with them to the grave.

Missiles started streaming from the bunkers to cut down the deadliest of Zerg ground attackers, effectively cutting down more than half the charging Ultralisks, but still enough of them had hurled themselves against the line as bunkers cracked and strained before giving way to the tons of destructive force brought to bear upon them. Already, firing was thinning out as the second line began a rapid withdrawal to their semi-final line of defenses, and Cameron had no intention of letting his squad die gloriously upon the battlefield this day, "Squad pull-out!"

His squad reacted as they had been trained and drilled. The trio at the front firing slits sliding back to break the seal upon the bunker door, filing outside to resume firing over the top of the bunker, while the last two at the angled gun slits pulled out as well. Just like every drill they had ever done. The saying went that "Drills are bloodless and war is a bloody drill," but there was too much blood to consider this a drill gone wrong. As a cohesive unit, they began a rapid withdrawal across the field of battle, running back to and reinforcing the third and final line of defense, that would hold for a few minutes as the Zerg annihilated the second line as they had done the first, leaving no building standing and no human alive. Five minutes if they were really, really lucky, and then the Zerg would begin pounding on their final line

Sarah Kerrigan felt fear drive its stake through her heart as she observed the screens and monitors that painted the picture clearly, as the second line of bunkers fell, and the final line was already under heavy pressure. She'd left the front, hoping to find away to get her people to safety, but the only option available was a Catch 22 that would mean many of her troops would die anyway. The displays showed clearly that nearly the entire tank company deployed to the second line had been massacred without having a chance to even attempt an escape. The Zerg swarmed and encircled the few remaining bunkers still fighting upon the second line and as the icons disappeared from the display, it meant another five brave men and women had died in the defense of a base too soon to be lost to the power overwhelming that the enemy was bringing to bear upon them. The siege tanks, the masterpiece of Terran artillery was already in tatters, what little of it that remained sending shell after shell in to the Zerg that was demolishing the remnants of the second line with passionate ferocity. The end was coming in to sight.

Kerrigan was stock still as she took note of their pathetically thin aerospace and fighter screen, of which there were, at this point a total of seven Wraith fighters, their cloak systems long exhausted, along with the battered hulks of three remaining Battle Cruisers, the consoles showing that all of them had lost the majority of their armor, with the substructure showing through in numerous places, along with the sparks and fizzing that pointed out shattered turrets and batteries along the hulls of the ships.

Virtually no air cover, but every building had reported their preparations complete and their readiness for launch in to orbit, to hopefully escape the Planet Tarsonis, and more importantly the Zerg that now infested the planet. But everyone was not waiting for the command center to finish the last step of its own prep: Disengaging the foot claws that kept the entire structure bolted to the ground… another five or ten seconds before the hydraulics would clear.

Those seconds could not pass fast enough for everyone, whether within a structure or along the savagely embattled front lines, "Lieutenant: Preflight complete, awaiting orders! Third line is breached! Bunkers four, seven, nine and thirteen are gone… Zerg punching through, Ultralisks leading the charge. Troops beginning to fall back," his voice was grim, "Here it comes..." he didn't bother to finish as everyone knew what was coming: Overrun.

With her heart heavy in her chest, her hands wrapped around the pendant she wore around her neck, a lucky rabbit's foot – synthetic of course, but a gift from Raynor to her, after their successful victory against the Confederates on Antiga. She had promised that she'd give it back to him once the Sons of Korhol achieved their victory, but a part of her mind told her that she would never get to keep that promise to him, or to tell him some things that she should have said when she had the chance, but for now she had to focus on getting her troops to safety, "General Retreat! Get us off the ground and man those gun turrets!"

As the buildings left the ground, the remaining defenders, perhaps a handful of seventy or eight infantry with the support of half a tank company and an equally small number of Goliath War Walkers broke cover, like a river moving to the dropships that had braved the aerial firestorm to touch down; their bay doors open as every survivor made a mad dash to temporary safety. The Zerg ground forces, a wall of colored death tore through all those who slowed down, or tried to fire while on the move.

One Barracks was already six feet in the air, with Marines at the structures gun turrets, cutting in to the Zerg below, aiming for the Hydralisks that sent volley after volley of needle spines streaking towards it, aiming for the hover disks beneath the structure. While the Hydralisks successfully drew the fire of the stalwart marines at the guns, the Ultralisks did what they do best: Crush, kill and destroy.

Three of them converged, the massed multi-ton monsters leaping skyward in a move that defied gravity itself to slam in to the side of the structure, sounding as if the Hammer of Thor himself had struck, caving in the neo-steel armor and superstructure, knocking the building to the ground, where it carved a massive scar in to the platform surface. The Hydralisks and Ultralisks turned their attention to a Science Facility as the smaller and more agile Zergling swarmed in to the ruins of the Barracks to butcher the hapless Marines and Firebats caught inside, many of them stunned or wounded, unable to defend themselves from the approaching flurry of claws and fangs. The fortunate infantry died in the structure's crash landing.

Science Facility 002 had abandoned its Covert Operations Facility add on and was just beginning to leave the ground as Cameron's squad reached the extended ramp that lead up to its northern airlock doors. Private Jo turned, hosing down the ground around her in a wide arc with liquid napalm, roasting alive a quartet of Zerglings that had charged at her. Cameron turned in time to send a dozen spikes in to the head of a Hydralisk that had tried to strike from the flank, the two of them laying down covering fire as the rest of the squad retreated inside They were lucky as the majority of the Zerg were busy butchering those still coming, racing towards the dubious safety of numerous buildings and landed dropships. With better than half his squad safe he slapped Jo and turned to make his retreat when he heard the high pitch squealing roar of a Mutalisk seconds before it coughed.

Sergeant Cameron St. James saw the Mutalisk making its diving attack, sending several of the glave wurms towards Jo, he turned, taking aim as he cut loose with his Gauss rifle, the needles shredding the moving wurms before turning his attention to the offending Mutalisk, drilling it with several spikes as it swerved, using its wing like a bat, to sweep her off the edge, fifteen meters above ground.

"I got ya!" Cameron had somehow managed to grab her gauntleted hand seconds before it slipped completely from view… but now he had another problem to deal with: The Mutalisk.

The same Mutalisk circled and had Cameron perfectly fitted between its cross hairs as it what sounded like a loud wet cough, launching yet another of its glave wurms from its saliva filled mouth to Cameron's back where it immediately set to work, taking a fraction of a second to burrow its way through his armor, before ripping in to flesh to shatter his spine. The energy the small creature contained not completely spent, it cut through the foot thick steel ramp before its energy faded. The ramp bent before snapping underneath the weight of two fully armed and armored soldiers. Cameron was already dead but Jo was not. She fell, screaming, falling to the ground far below, the Vespene packs upon her back detonating, a red and orange fireball upon their sickening bone crunching impact, her epitaph as long as the explosion.

Just outside the command center, which had just began to lift itself from the ground, the remnants of two squads managed to squash themselves in to the hold of a drop ship, from the fourth and final desperate line of defenders. The Goliath last aboard covering the entry of the marines saw the trio of Hydralisks launch themselves towards the 'ship. The Goliath suddenly leaned in one direction as the screech of metal on metal announced the break in the left leg from Hydralisk fire. The machine tumbled to the ground, half in and half out of the 'ship as the Goliath pilot swore, shaking his head to clear the stars and static that swum before his eyes, wincing as the canopy fell on to him. He managed to push it off, waving away the acrid plastic scented smoke from burned out consoles.

The marines rallied around his stricken machine, sending streams of spikes in to the advancing Zerg but the seven men were cut down rapidly, as the Hydralisks demonstrated their raw power by decimating all seven marines in a single volley composed of hundreds of needle spines. The Goliath pilot struggled with the last of the five point restraints holding him in place, when he saw the shadow fall, flooding the cockpit. He stopped what he was doing as he stared in to the face of death, his hand reach for the .50 caliber pistol, pure terror etched in to his face. The Hydralisks swarmed over the ruined war machine, and all that was left of the pilot was a battered, bloody corpse, that twitched its last, just as the grounded dropship detonated, an orgy of oily smoke, fire and blood filled the small area, cremating the crew of two still strapped in to the cockpit in the final mix of man and machine.

Satisfied with its handy work, the Hunter Killers reared up to their full height, blasting the door of the rising Command Center with massive volleys of spines. The spines were defeated by the armor, but the Hydralisk paused, as it received new orders from its Cerebrate. It turned to find more Terrans to kill, tracking a group of marines that had just fled in to a Supply Depot to hide. If demons could smile then the Hydralisk would have been smiling at that moment as it slithered across the ground, intent on killing more of the helpless men and machines caught upon the ground.

Kerrigan sat in the Command Center forty meters aboveground and left it to the crew to do what they were trained to. Getting in to their way to micromanage was not the way Kerrigan ran her people. She knew that her people knew their jobs, and she left them to get on with it, because her intrusions would do nothing to help the situation, and the tension of the bridge had reached the point of saturation, along with the salty smell of sweet and nervousness. The few marines who had clambered on board had taken control of the six auto gun turrets, as even the worst of human gunners tended to be better shots, knowing where to aim to rapidly kill a Zerg Mutalisk: The wing joints. The six guns traced lines of death across the sky striking in to the massed wall of Mutalisks that maintained the formation in spite of the massive casualties that were being inflicted on to them as more than seven of them fell from the sky riddled with bullets, leaving five of them that dove beneath the building, giving one marine a split second view of what the Zerg strategy was.

He swung his gun turret down, praying that his shaking hands could lead his target by the necessary time as he held down the trigger, screaming for support, screaming for all he was worth two words that sent fear racing through almost everyone aboard, "Scourge pair!"

The nearby watching Overlord seemed to hear the panicked scream sending what it saw and heard back to its Cerebrate. Araq gave the command in a lazy fashion, as if he had expected the Terran's to see through and spot the strategy, a little too late to defeat it. The Mutalisks flew above the Scourges twenty meters from the Hover Pads that kept the Command Center airborne, absorbing the withering barrage that would have slaughtered an Ultralisk. Seven meters and the last of the Mutalisks were swatted from the sky, but not the Scourge pair, who were now too close for the turrets to even try to lock on to them. Panic turned to fear and fear turned to terror in that moment for Private Gerard Iverson as he shouted what would be his last words, "Brace! Brace! Brace!"

The first explosion caused the entire building to shake, but the second annihilating explosion of the detonating pair rocked the building, and in the bridge, several crewmen were knocked to the floor. Kerrigan tore the multi-purpose visor from where it rested, wincing as she pulled part of its metal frame from her temple. Blood ran down the side of her face, as if she was crying tears of blood for her fallen soldiers, "Status!"

"Scourge hit on pad three! Damage control teams responding…" the tech paused for a moment, reading through the damage alerts and warnings streaming across his screen, almost too fast to read, "Damage Control says it's gone! Turrets three and five inoperable, minor damage to pad four."

Kerrigan grimaced at the news, definitely not something one wants to hear in the middle of battle, "Equalize remaining power and break for high orbit!"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Proximity warning: Impact imminent! Proximity alert: Impact imminent!" the voice of the Adjutant AI from the computer was calm and collected, unlike the bridge crew, who could do nothing more than watch the feed from one of the turrets, the camera mounted on to the weapon itself, the picture jerking and bouncing slightly as the marine at its controls rammed bullets in to the carapace of that second pair, once again too little, too late.

Warning popped across the monitors and screens of the command center as for a brief moment, the Command Center simply hovered in mid air, before the building skewed to one side, "Scourge hit on pad one! Red and amber warning lights for pad two! Pads two and four approaching overload! Damage control…" the same tech paused for a moment, "Damage control… Damage Control team… They're dead Lieutenant."

Kerrigan could only stare at the display, close to despair but there was some comfort as she noted the several other buildings, a Barracks, one War Factory, one of her two Science Facilities break through the atmosphere along with the broken remains of a single Battle Cruiser, IFF transponders told her was "The Interceptor." It was something akin to a calming lotion to soothe her rattled mind and equally frayed nerves that at least some had escape the destruction wrought upon them this day. Hot anger flashed through her for a moment, as she remembered that their destruction was brought upon them by betrayal of the man that had lead them, the man they had followed, an idealistic rebel crusader, who was nothing more than a power hungry megalomaniac, "Get us back on the ground, and then everybody grab a Gauss Rifle!" she turned away from the forward display screens, staring round the room at the seven men and woman still at their stations, following her orders without question, even as she turned to a working computer terminal, blowing the smoke from short circuited equipment out of her way to sign their death warrants, "Adjutant, Initiate Hades Protocol."

"Hades Self Destruct Protocol selected. Level Five Security Clearance required," calmly replied the computer, accepting its fate as it was programmed, as all of the Adjutant AI systems are designed to do.

She took a deep breathe, as she provided the clearance required, "Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan. Level Five Security Clearance: Indigo-Sigma-Alpha-Bravo-Epsilon-Lima-19-05."

"Authorization accepted Lieutenant Kerrigan. Please select countdown time before Hades Protocol initiation."

For the first time in her life, Kerrigan hesitated before selecting fifteen minutes. It would take them at least five to land, and she had every intention of dying with her feet firmly planted on the ground.

The descent was far faster than their aborted assent and it was down to seven technicians, eight Marines, three Firebats, and a solitary ghost, to give the Zerg pure unadulterated hell for as long as possible. For untrained personnel, the use of a Stim-pack is a good way to die as their bodies simply breakdown due to exhaustion amidst other failures due to the stresses that it induced upon the body, often times before the effects itself wear off. But in this scenario, death was death, whether at the hands of the Zerg, from a self inflicted chemical overdose or in the path of a nuclear star. Death is death.

The horde of Zerg could be heard, coming, their stampeding feet, thunder across the platform in their charge and the nineteen men and women did not bother to wait for death, as they charged out, a fierce war cry that would have drowned the roar of a company of 120mm Arclite siege tanks unleashing the patented payloads of death.

They knew that this was their last stand, and that they would only meet the enemy halfway before falling back to the Command Center, its one door in and out creating a choke point they could use.

And they were well met, for as soon as the Overlords had sensed the Command Center's descent, Zerglings and Hydralisks stowed within the thick carapaces were lowered to the ground to meet them head on. The few Terrans drove a wedge through the attacking Zerg before pulling back, as they saw the swarm's full power coming towards them. Already a third of their number had been lost in this counter charge, this final desperate charge to make it clear to their bestial foes that Terrans never give up, that Terrans never surrender, that Terrans die but never surrender!

One marine was turned in to a near pincushion as a pair of Hydralisks opened up against him at the same time. But still pumped from the stim-pack, he pulled his ST grenades from their pouches on his hip, depressing their detonator caps before diving forward in to the oncoming walls of death.

The battle pointless, and they all knew it as they retreated back to the Command Center, Kerrigan noted that none of the Zerg flyers had actually chosen to engage any of them, the Mutalisks and remaining scourge pounded the Command Center, finally cracking open the outer walls to breach its interior, just as they reached its comparable safety. They ran back through the building, only stopping when they saw the gaping hole above their heads. They pulled back, but the last of the technicians raced forward and found themselves caught suddenly, as a green web of ooze and fibers shot through the hole, ensnaring them as they struggled to break free.

Everyone in the room knew what was about to happen as the Zerg Queen punched its way in to the command center, suddenly oozing a purple substance from the hidden pores of its carapace. Everyone untouched by the green web, fled back the way they came, until the stood just inside the door of the Command Center, firing out at the Zerg, their ammunition running low, but almost uncaring due to the harsh adrenalin and chemicals from the stim-packs. From behind them, came a last act of free will, of true life from one of the technicians who released all his fear and terror, his every ounce of absolute horror, in one finally blood curdling scream.

The purple ooze rapidly hardened in to strands that reached through the Command Center, grasping the platform beneath and ruined support beams as the Queen left off from the structure, a beating muscle taking her place inside the bridge chamber atop the command center. Muscles began pulsing beneath the metal skin, as they connected themselves to the heart, arteries and digestion chambers together, along with the biological half egg shapes that would take free willed Terrans and turn them in to nothing more than mindless infested living bombs.

They had several more minutes before the infestation would be complete, several more minutes of shelter in what would soon be another Zerg structure. Kerrigan stared out at the massed ranks of Zerg that stood back about twenty feet away, the Hydralisks salivating almost uncontrollably as they knew where their last few prey were hiding. It was as if they were waiting for them to come out. She looked at the three marines and lonesome Firebat, all that was left her command that was, still breathing hard with a wild look in their eyes from the stim-packs still coursing through the system. She looked down at the ground for a moment before coming to her decision. Ghosts are not exactly authorized to use stim packs as its side effects are known to have "negative impacts" upon their psionic abilities… but death is death, no matter what its form. She took the small packet and used the inbuilt injector to pump its contents in to her bloodstream. Satisfied, she grasped a Gauss Rifle in one hand, her Canister Rifle in the other.

Normally, the Gauss Rifle is difficult for anyone to wield with the assistance of CMC 300 Combat Armor. But for Kerrigan, already powered up by the stim, it was possible. The four marines looked at her and she nodded in kind. She paused for a moment, letting the stim pack work its way through her entire system, until she could feel it in the tips of her fingers and toes, "Gentlemen," she paused as she addressed the men who stood shoulder to shoulder with her, ready to go down with their guns blazing death, "It has been an honor to serve with you."

She expected nothing in return from these men; she could ask nothing more from them in return. They had fought, bled and so many had died, and even now, on the brink of death they stood their ground, weapons in hand, ready to do just that: Die. But it was the Firebat who lifted his visor, a cloud of smoke coming out as he spoke, "Uh… we're, I'm not the best kinda person for this kinda speech making thing, but, well, its was, good, yeah, good to fight alongside you," he hesitated for a moment, glancing at the three marines around him, before slapping her gently on the shoulder, well aware that he could shatter her collar bone if he struck too hard, "You're alright for a Ghost!"

She smiled, and actually laughed. It was perhaps the highest praise that she could ever receive from such men. She was human enough, but different enough to make it awkward to be around her. They were all smiles and laughter for a moment, as if they were trading jokes and having drinks at the bar. But this was the laughter and miles of dead men, "Let's do this!"

The Firebat lit a fresh cigarette before snapping his visor shut, "Let's Burn!"

One of the marines nodded, cocking his rifle, "Rock and roll!"

Their front rank stood three wide, two marines, flanking their lone fire bat as Kerrigan stood in the second rank with a marine by her side. Breathe deep, deep breathe, her thoughts were clear and she knew that her death awaited her outside, "The Zerg can take my life, but what's mine is mine, and they can't take the love of a good man from me," she spared herself a moment as she thought of him, "Godspeed your way Jimmy." She pumped her fist in the air, "Go! Go! Go!"

Guns blazing they charged through the doors, hypersonic slugs and canister rounds following the wall of flame that leapt from the Perdition flame throwers as they cut through the massed ranks of Zerglings that responded to their charge. No pause, no hesitation as they two sides met up close and personal. It was almost a melee as they smashed in to the Zerglings. Dozens liquefied as bullets struck. Dozens more collapsed screaming as they burned. From above, a solitary overlord drifted to the side, revealing a Zerg Queen that fired something, a small deathly package that punched through the torso armor of the Firebat.

He stopped and staggered for a moment as his body convulsed, his fingers upon the trigger going slack as his entire body convulsed once, the cigarette falling from his lips, shaking like a marionette in the hands of a mad puppeteer before falling on his back. The broodlings ripped out of his chest cavity a high pitched screech erupting from their fang lined mouths before a single canister round blew them apart in a fountain of blood.

The orbiting Overlord finally dropped its contribution to the fight as four massive Hydralisks landed, shaking the ground, cracking it slightly: Hunter Killers. Almost immediately the onslaught from other Zerg stopped as the four moved in unison to engage the Terrans.

The Marines as one ganged up, sending over a hundred rounds in to the Hunter Killer leading the charge, dropping its bullet ridden carcass to the ground. The remaining three simply charged forward, eviscerating two marines with swipes from their scythe arms that ripped through the combat armor as if it were paper. The last marine did not hesitate as he charged forward, with his weapon blazing. The Hunter Killer he targeted leapt to the side, avoiding the stream of lead before diving low, beneath the second barrage of gauss slugs to amputate the right leg of a marine just below the knee. The marine dropped like a rock but still unable to feel the pain through his chemical induced haze as he rolled over and fired, chipping away at the carapace of his killer that leapt at him.

The man within could see death diving at him and dropped his rifle as he pulled a grenade from its pouch. The monster landed hard, the sound of breaking ribs audible before it sank both its scythe arms in to this chest. He smiled in to the face and raised a hand, placing directly in front of the serrated jaws of the Hydralisk in a universal symbol, his middle finger raised. Seconds later, fire and shrapnel engulfed them.

Seconds later, Kerrigan was left standing, alone, her Canister Rifle long discarded, with only a beeping Gauss Rifle with its smoking and blood streaked barrel buried in the head of the third Hunter Killer. She stared in to the face of the last of the elite Hydralisks, and threw the rifle to the ground, as she calmly drew her pistol. The end had come.

She knew her pistol was no use against it but she fired rapidly empting the seven .50 caliber rounds in to its carapace as it charged towards her. Smoothly, she ejected the clip and rolled beneath its outstretched scythe, snapping in her second clip of ammunition as she rolled back to her feet, sending seven rounds directly in to the left shoulder joint of the beast, effectively disabling one of its arms. It turned, hissing in pain before lunging. She lunged forward to meet it, rolling diagonally to stay on its injured side where the scythe was no threat – until it regenerated at any rate.

But Hunter Killers, the Hydralisk strain evolved by the Tiamat brood, were smarter than most. It pivoted in reverse, but she managed to leap over it this time, only to find herself face to mouth with a Zerg Queen. It opened its tusk lined maw and Kerrigan rolled back, hard and fast, not ready to die as a spawning ground for a pair of Broodlings.

It wasn't the small deadly grey package that housed the Broodling spores - it was the same green web that had captured the technicians earlier. Slowed, almost dragged down by its weight, she had no chance as the scythe punched in to her shoulder, knocking her off her feet, driving her to the ground where she heard bone snap and muscle tear, as she shrieked in pain, blood soaking the cold metal ground beneath her body. She kept still waiting for the Coup de Grace that would finish her, but it never came.

She could hear the Hunter Killer hissing behind her as it lifted her, tearing another scream of pain from her, even as her agony filled mind registered a final thought, "Damn you Arcturus! May you burn in hell for what you've done! And may Jimmy be the one to send you there!" the stars and static dancing before her eyes grew more numerous and pronounced as her eyes slid shut, consciousness abandoning her as pain overwhelmed her, setting every nerve ablaze with acidic fire.

And Sarah Kerrigan knew no more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3: **

**The Birth of a Queen**

Months had passed since Kerrigan's supposed death at the hands of the Zerg on Tarsonis. On a planet with hundreds of active volcanoes, forever shrouded by clouds of ash, where volcanic fire had turned the surface of the entire planet black, volcanic rock harder and sturdier than a foot of neo-steel comprising the ground. The planet had little life due to its paper-thin atmosphere that contained just enough oxygen for humans to breathe and its searing climate did nothing to enhance its appeal to anyone. However, the Zerg are not anyone, and had occupied the once lifeless planet and turned it in to home. The purple creep that marked Zerg territory had reclaimed acres of barren wasteland. The blackened ball that housed the galaxy's most vicious killers held a fitting name.

The former members of the Sons of Korhol, now lead by Captain James Raynor, had arrived on the planet several days before, and had set up a solid base, in an easy to defend location, surround by lakes of molten lava. Admittedly, the temperature was less than comfortable but at least they did not have to worry about ground assaults against them. He could not explain why he had brought his troops, or why he had even come to this blackened ball of space rock. Just a something, a something he could not place or understand.

Something had drawn him here, something that he could not understand, but he knew that it was important for him to be on this planet. However, he was still worried about the fact that the new "Emperor" of the Terran Dominion had sent his bloodhound, General Edmund Duke to Char as well. James had no idea what Duke was doing here but there was only one reason that made any sense to him at all: Duke was here to track him down and either capture him, or more likely kill him and every single man woman or child affiliated to him. Nevertheless, what worried him a little more than Duke was the presence of the Zerg on this planet.

James found himself wondering but dismissed it as unlikely that if the Zerg here, were the same Zerg that had taken Sarah from him. He paused in mid thought as he remembered the happy memories that he had, of her, of him together doing nothing spectacular, nothing fancy, but just the simple things. How they had stood on one of the observation decks of the Norad II to simply stare out and watch the stars shoot by them as they traveled. How they had passed time in his quarters, the way they made love to each other, how it was different almost every time, sometimes slow and gentle while other times it was hard, rough, with a near animalistic passion driving them.

He shook his head, clearing the memories from his mind – he did not need this, to have those memories intruding upon him right now. Duke may be looking for him but the heavy cloud cover and ash that infested the atmosphere was actually a double-edged sword that provided him with enough cover to hide in plain sight. But what drew him here, was as something he could not understand, as if she had been calling to him in his dreams. It had led him across the depths of space, to Char. Now, the very thing that kept him and his forces, the few that there were, safe, hampered his search for her. He knew that she was close by, almost as if he could see her through the ash and smoke that always hung low to the ground. He was not sure if he was hallucinating or not, but he prayed that he was just hallucinating because the last thing he wanted to do was see someone that nobody else could see.

What worried him was that her calls were accompanied by images that did not frighten, but terrify. The images of numerous broods and strains of Zerg warriors, everything he feared about them hammered in to his sleeping mind. It was the images of her face with something different about it, and it was that something different in her face, her appearance that worried him, that had made him drag along every marine, tank and Goliath that he had to the surface of this burning planet. Raynor's Raiders had made their way through and set up camp, running what was to all intent and purposes, nothing more than a massive search and rescue mission, especially if Sarah was alive and a hostage of the Zerg.

It happened with a speed and ferocity that left James Raynor stunned: The entire Western Perimeter of the base was suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree as the dozen of static hellfire missile turrets emplacements suddenly sprang to life, spinning to achieve a solid target lock in to the banks of clouds that hung low over a lake of molten fire as the lights within the command center changed from their normal muted blue shades to a deep burgundy red.

"Captain Raynor, we have come under attack from a large force of Zerg that are from a currently unidentified Brood. Displaying live video feed from missile turrets four and seven," reported the adjutant. Raynor stared at view screen as the Mutalisks, a mass living wall of the winged tube shaped organisms. Nobody understood how such creatures could possibly fly but fly they did, with a grace that belief their bulky shape and form as they unleashed their glave wurms against their targets.

Jim had expected a Zerg assault and had order turrets deployed in a two-three-two pattern to minimize the risk of splash damage. It was when they split in to groups of twelve and each group targeted an individual turret, creating a sudden gaping hole in his perimeter. That got his attention: New _and_ advanced Zerg tactics. His unasked question was answered with chilling certainty as the a dozen Overlords hovered out of the cloudbank.

They glided low over the ground, their ventral sacs popping open deposit their deadly cargo as if disgorging troops from a dropship, with a pair of Zerglings supported followed by a Hydralisk, and then a set group of the same. Perfectly organized and in unison, suddenly putting a sizeable attack force on the ground. He could see it on the view screen and did not quite believe what he was seeing, as they advanced towards one his four outlying defensive positions, "All right," he took a deep breath before opening a general broadcast, "Listen up boys and girls: Zerg on the perimeter closing on position Fox Three. Lock and load!"

He snapped his own visor shut as he slung the Gauss rifle in to position, pausing to run his armored fingers over the… It was a habit to reach for the lucky rabbit foot. He had given in to Sarah, months ago, before the ill-fated mission to New Gettysburg where she died.

He waited patiently, as he watched several different units of marines and Firebat infantry move to their bunkers supported by several dozen of the Goliath War Walkers. He had few siege tanks available and he would not be able to call on their support until they get in to position atop the low ridges, they would have better range and accuracy against the on coming Zerg. He'd faced off against the Zerg over a dozen times and was one of the few to repeatedly come back from the battlefront, but only because he had evac close at hand. This time, his evac was already on the way, but over twenty minutes away, which assumed an uninterrupted flight… with Zerg flyers in the way it meant at least twice as long, and his outpost, would be lucky to hold for ten.

He shook his head, and sighed, wondering if everything he had gone through, the visions that showed him where to go, leading him from one Zerg infested planet to another Zerg infested rock. Every time the calls getting stronger and more urgent until he had arrived here… when they stopped coming in his sleep, and he received nothing more. He just wished he know what it meant that the psionic calls had stop.

When the first of the siege tanks fired, he knew that the assault would strike his lines in a matter of minutes, but he had no intention of simply sitting behind his defenses and waiting for this assault to crash against him. He had only one thing left to live for, and he knew that it drove him, and it was a reckless move but he could care less. Rifle in hand, he stood amongst those in the front line, waiting for the smoke and flames to clear. He did not have to wait even that long as the first of the Zerglings broke through the dense wall of smoke. He did not give the order, simply took aim and unleashed hell in to the dense ranks of Zerglings.

Around him, the bunkers opened up, but he could already see that there were too few marines to the number of Zerg… they would be able to hold them back for only a few minutes. From above him, he heard the dull thudding roar as the Goliaths cut loose with their chain gun cannons, effectively pulverizing the on coming ranks, creating piles of still smoking Zerg as blood painted the ground a deep burgundy color. The howling saurian like roar filled the air as every siege tank under his command heaved their barrage of death in to the sky, to come crashing down upon the ranks of Hydralisks, the computer assisted targeting assuring every shell was a solid hit, the two dozen advancing Hydralisks suddenly found their numbers cut in half. More Zerg reinforcements were dropping out of yet another fleet of Overlords, this time a lot closer to the bunkers, under the effective reach of their defensive siege guns, the barrage of supersonic Gauss Rifle slugs and immolating flamethrowers doing little as they ripped in the bunkers, a massive flurry of fangs, claws and acidic spines.

Raynor let vengeance drive him, but he was not as foolish as to let it rule his decision or actions, "Pull back to base! Evac is on its way! I do not want any heroics! Lucifer Seven! We do this by the book!"

While the retreat was smooth and precise, the reduction in the volume of fire allowed the Zerg to breakthrough his defensive lines as through out his base, structures beginning a slow ascent to move themselves closer to the rendezvous point with their air support: Three Battle Cruisers and close to three dozen Wraith Class fighters. It was the easiest way to reduce the time the time to pick up by going towards the pick up. Raynor's command center would be amongst the last to leave, waiting for its complement of six marines to clamber aboard, and man the gun turrets.

The Zerg ignored the fleeing Terrans; concentrating on destroying every structure that they could catch… they wanted the buildings? It made no sense… he could only watch in confusion as the Zerg ripped the doors off the Science Facilities and swarmed inside, when he saw something, a flicker of light, in waves, amidst the ranks of the Zerg. Even as he fled to his command center, he barked orders to the adjutant; calling up a small view-screen on his visor, "Rewind and replay!" he studied the tape, even as his feet moved on autopilot. He gave numerous commands to the Adjutant to zoom and magnify the image, to catch a glimpse of something, a claw, a hand, something pressing down, tearing through the science facility doors. Finally after twenty long seconds, just past the outer door of the Command Center, "Adjutant: Extrapolate for missing data and present restored image."

"It can't be…" James felt something inside him, his heart snap and break, something that tore at his heart, piercing it, freezing as if in a vat of liquid nitrogen, before shattering to rape his lungs. His hands grasped the edge of the console and shook, unable to believe the image that stared him in the face, her eyes that glowed jaundice yellow with green skin, a color that one normally reserved for those severely ill. Her hair was nothing like the luxurious tresses that she used to have, now more like armor plated braids that dotted her head… it was hair after a fashion but no longer human, he looked at the image, and he could feel the tear falling down his cheek, "Sarah… my Sarah…." He broke down at that moment, as he cried, the single scream that broke from him echoing the pain and suffering he had endured for so many months, what felt like years, the pain eating at him now stabbing deeper in to him that he ever thought possible, "Mother of God Kerrigan, What have they done to you? What have they turned you in to?"

Kerrigan, surrounded by a pack off Zerglings and her two Hunter Killer escorts were making their way between the Science Facility and the Covert Operation Center when she sensed, no, not sensed, felt: Pain and outright anguish. Moreover, she could tell where it was coming from, and more importantly, who it was: Captain James Raynor. She flexed her skeletal wings experimentally as she brought them up, their bladed edges coated in red, and morsels of flesh, the remnants of several marines and a Goliath pilot who had soiled himself before she had ripped him in two, her skeletal wing punching through the armored cockpit with ease. She moved through the rubble of the base quickly, her Zerg enhanced muscles and reflexes allowing her to easily match the pace of the four Devouring One's she ran with, the Hunter Killers perhaps two strides behind, even as she sent a psionic message to him, "Jimmy dear, its me, your love. It is me. It is Sarah. I'm coming to you…"

James heard the message and recoiled in horror, falling to his knees, slamming his head against the console, once, then twice, and finally a third time, trying to beat the message out of his head. The image continue to show his Sarah charging towards his Command Center with her Zerg escorts, his base mostly smoking ruin as she led the assault. It made sense now, the advanced tactics of not swarming in to his defenses, of the closer combat drops reducing the amount of time they were exposed. However, he could do nothing but stand and stare as she walked up to his Command Center and punched through the door with her skeletal wings, tearing it clean of its hinges. She stared up at the camera and gave what was probably a smile but looked more menacing with her teeth, now sharpened in to fangs, "Come to me Jimmy, and nobody else will have to die today…"

Torn between love and hate, his mind hesitated although his body did not, hand wrapping around the stock, his hand sliding on to the grip, slapping in a fresh clip before storming down the red lighted corridor towards the white light at its end, to face something that not even his darkest nightmares could have prepared him for. He stepped through the broken doorway, the visor of his helm shut, to hide his anguish twisted visage from her, "Sarah, is that, is that really you?"

Her muscles seemed to writhe of their own accord, moving and flowing beneath her skin as she shook what now passed as her hair, passing a clawed hand through it. She took a deep breath and smiled at him, "To an extent… I'm far more than I once was…" her voice took on a menacing edge, as the chitin armor plates over her ribs and torso seemed to slide together creating a tight fitting but agile suit of armor, as her claws flexed, "You should not have come here Jim…"

The threat was clear in her voice, as the Zerglings encircled him. He did not seem to see them, his eyes only focused on her as his rifle lowered itself, to point at the charcoal colored rock ground, confusion evident in his voice, "But the dreams… I dreamed that you were still alive, and that that you, the Sarah I know, was somehow calling to me…"

A cold almost cruel laugh erupted from between her lips, as the Hunter Killer Hydralisks took up flanking positions around her, their chest cavities opening as they revealed row upon row of deadly acidic toxin coated needle pines, ready to be launched in the fraction of an instant if he were to try and somehow threaten her, "I was. While I was in the chrysalis, I instinctively reach out to you and to Arcturus telepathically. Apparently Duke was sent here to reclaim me," she gestured in to the distance, "Not too long ago, but the Cerebrate who guarded me during my incubation annihilated Duke's coveted Alpha Squadron." The warped smile widened slightly, and if looks could kill, James Raynor would have received a mortal wound, "I trusted the Confederacy – not like I had a choice when they take you in the dead of night and kill you parents in front of you. I didn't remember until the Zerg unlocked the memories. Terrans and the Confederates, and their Ghost Program took my innocence and my childhood, and my life and twisted me into a Ghost "special operative." The Confederates betrayed me and only to be betrayed again. Betrayed by my _former_ Commander! By General Duke! By Arcturus Mengsk! Humanity was far crueler to me than the Zerg. I've killed men and women today, with my hands, and of course, my new limbs."

She lowered the skeletal wings, outstretching them until their points were only inches from Raynor's face, close enough for him to smell the coppery smell of blood, to see the fragments of human tissue still hanging to the serrated bone blades. "I was betrayed Jimmy, It was the Confederacy, the _humans" _she spat the word as if it was the harshest curse in the entire universe, "in the Confederacy who took me from my family, twisting me, warping me in to a "special solider" with their Ghost Program."

Her eyes changed color from their jaundice yellow to black orbs upon a field of fire.

A sudden crackling energy field surrounding her hand, crackling blue wisps of energy arching from her eyes, "The Zerg helped me regain my memories of that "program for psychic children." They helped me remember the surgeries that broke and rebuilt my body without the numbing benefit of anesthesia, the way they hacked my mind like a computer to bend and reshape my mind in Psych Ops. Sarah Kerrigan? She was the shell that remained after _Terrans and humans _butchered her. Now I am something different, I am one of the Zerg now. I am the Queen of the Zerg. I am something more powerful. And I _like_ what I am. You can't imagine how this feels," she paused, her twisted smile reflected in his faceplate, "to be whole and complete."

Behind the mirrored visor that hid his face, tears fell freely, streaming down Terran Captain James Raynor's face. He contemplated the monster that stood before him in the guise of his former and most precious love, his voice spoke, but even though the voice was calm and steady, his trembling hands tightened around the trigger of the fully loaded rifle, steadying as the barrel raised a few centimeters, "So? What? You going to kill me now, darling?" The final word was laced with just at tinge of sarcasm, to hide his pain from her, even though he knew that she could now reach into his head and rip out the truth. Rip out the fact that it was a bluff.

She seemed to do just that as the skin upon her right hip seemingly retracted, creating a flesh pocket. She pulled the silver chain that he recognized, and it took a moment for her to pull it out, as she took her time with it, toying with it as she toyed with his emotions, a dark smile upon her face. Finally, she whipped it across the six-foot gap between them, letting it careen through the ash upon the ground, to come to rest mere inches from his armored foot.

The bladed bone wings retracted, folding away neatly as the Zerg warriors pulled back. "It is certainly within my power, but you are no threat to me, Jim." She stalked forward, a hunter upon the prowl until her foot descended, with exaggerated care, the heel of her foot to grind the rabbits foot he had given her so long before, in to the ash, burying it deep, "Be smart: Leave here and never seek to confront the Zerg again!"

He could do nothing more, but nod and turn away from her, knowing that his precious Sarah was lost to him, forever, "Doesn't look like I have much choice."

He could feel her smile corroding in to his back like the acid from a Hydralisk spine, the gentle and quiet sound of swishing curtains before she vanished from sight. He waiting a moment longer, until he knew that she was gone, before turning and falling to his knees, digging madly through the ashy ground that burned with the heat of the planet's volcanic core. His finger were starting to warm within the gauntlets but he did not care, even as the warmth became a heat, and the heat turned to a burning fire.

He did not care until he found the edge of the length of silver, warped by the heat of the land. Puling the charm, now ash grey, he held it to his chest as he cried, not from the pain arching like lightning thorough his blistered hands but for the pain that radiated through his entire being, his mortal heart broken as the fires of hell around him, burned away the last human vestiges of his love. In the end, it was what she had been twisted and warped. The Queen of Blades had erased every fragment of Sarah Kerrigan.


End file.
